Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resigned Wednesday amid questions about a possible conflict of interest with tobacco companies.

A report said Fitzgerald bought stock in a tobacco company within a month after assuming the role with the CDC, which leads anti-smoking campaigns for the government. She was expected to sell any stock she owned related to tobacco companies or other drug and food companies, but POLITICO obtained documents showing the purchase and others that raised eyebrows.

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The documents show Fitzgerald as CDC director bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in Japan Tobacco, which sells four brands in the U.S. through subsidiaries. She also bought stock in pharmaceutical companies Merck and Bayer, health insurer Human and US Food Holding Co.

Records show that she sold the tobacco shares on Oct. 26 and all of her holdings above $1,000 by Nov. 21.

Before she took over with the CDC, the former commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health owned stock in five other tobacco companies.

“It’s stunning,”Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told POLITICO. “It sends two messages, both of which are deeply disturbing. First, it undermines the credibility of a public official when they argue that tobacco is the No. 1 preventable cause of disease. Second, and perhaps even worse, it indicates a public official is willing to put their personal profit above the ethics of investing in a company whose products cause so much harm.”

A spokesman for newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said he accepted Fitzgerald's resignation in the morning.

"Dr. Fitzgerald owns certain complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all of her duties as the CDC Director," the spokesman said. "Due to the nature of these financial interests, Dr. Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time period. After advising Secretary Azar of both the status of the financial interests and the scope of her recusal, Dr. Fitzgerald tendered, and the Secretary accepted, her resignation. The Secretary thanks Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald for her service and wishes her the best in all her endeavors."

Fitzgerald is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and served as a major in the U.S. Air Force.